Ray's Ramblings - CarGo, Moose & Bullpens

Mike Moustakas returned to the Royals, with his tail between his legs. Seems like Carlos Gonzalez will do the same thing and return to the Rockies. Ray will also break down three bullpens that haven't yet named a closer for the upcoming season: Angels, Cardinals & White Sox.

CARGO TO THE ROCKIES

Though it’s not “official,” it sure seems like Carlos Gonzalez is headed back to the Rockies. CarGo turned down a 3-year, $45 million deal12 months ago from the Rockies. It looks like he just agreed to a 1-year, $8 million deal. Though CarGo was down last year with a .262-14-57-72-3 line, he was pretty much a second half star when his bat came alive to the tune of a .314/.390/.531 slash line.

His signing causes the outlook of plenty of other Rockies to hit the s--- pit.

Charlie Blackmon plays every day in the outfield.

Maybe CarGo is platooned, but he’s still playing every day against righties in the least.

Ian Desmond should play every day, either at first base or in the outfield.

That means Raimel Tapia, David Dahl, Ryan McMahon and Gerardo Parra are fighting for scraps. Parra makes the team for sure, meaning that at least one, if not two, of the youngsters won’t. Given that Parra/CarGo/Blackmon/Desmond can play in the OF, you would have to think that the most likely to lose their roster spot is Tapia or Dahl. So much for the youth movement in Colorado, and up in the air is the value of four guys making NL-only leagues a messy minefield.

MOOSE TO THE ROYALS

Mike Moustakas turned down a $17.4 million qualifying offer. He signed a $5.5 million deal with the Royals. He gets a $1 million buyout of a mutual option for next season so he’s a lock to make $6.5 million (he has $2.2 million in incentives – with 450 plate appearances – this season as well as a mutual option next year is for $15 million). Yes, he went back to his old team at less than half his potential salary of $17.4 million. The only good news is that, unlike this offseason, he won’t be tied to a draft pick next season and will just be a free agent (for more on the messed up season see this article). He got screwed after the belief that he would get something like 5-years and $80 million.

As for the player... he’s thought of too highly. He’s currently the 15th third baseman off the board with an ADP of 127.7. That’s way too expensive when you have options like Kyle Seager (138.7), EugenioSuarez (192.4) and Todd Frazier (284.01) at such a cheap cost. I mean, my goodness folks, Frazier is less than half as expensive. There is no reason at all, in a redraft league, that you should choose Moose over Frazier given their cost. Just don’t do it.

I’ve favored Cam Bedrosian over Blake Parker in the rankings for months. Most of the fantasy community favored Parker. It’s too early to know, and there hasn’t been an official statement of any kind, but Jon Heyman is reporting that it appears to be Bedrosian’s job at the moment. Of course, Heyman also suggested there could be a committee. We just don’t know at the moment. What we do know is that Parker has an ADP of 213.9 compared to 330.5 for Bedrosian. It’s obvious who the better value is.

CARDINALS: THE BULLPEN

Who is the Cardinals closer? It’s fair to suggest that they don’t have a firm handle on it, and that they could enter the year without a named arm for the role. “I don’t think we need to leave here with a closer. I don’t think we need to leave here with that title,” manager Mike Matheny said. “What’s more likely to happen is we don’t need to start thinking outside the box until it’s a necessity. Let’s try this. This should fit. If it doesn’t then, OK, it’s a hybrid. At the beginning it might be let’s all just buy into how it will have a lot of different looks to it. But at some point I imagine someone is going to make themselves very clear this is a job that fits me really well, and is best for the club.” Well that helps Mike.

Here are the candidates. I will list them in the order I would prefer them at the moment.

Luke Gregerson is looked at as the favorite to grab the role early on, but he’s been dealing with an oblique issue that has curtailed his workload. The expectation is that he will be ready for Opening Day. Luke has been successful since 2009 as one of the better righty setup men in the game. He saved 46 games in 2015-16, but last season was the worst of his career (4.57 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 1.92 HR/9). He’s barely in the lead over the next fella.

Domonic Leone has looked sharp in spring, and last season for the Blue Jays he was an ace reliever with a 3-0 record, 2.56 ERA, a 1.05 WHIP and a 10.36 K/9 rate. He allowed a few too many fly balls, 42 percent last season, but he has a nice power arm.

Tyler Lyons is a lefty with three career saves. He is coming off an impressive season with an 11.33 K/9 rate, and over the last two seasons he has an impressive WHIP of 1.06. Given that he and Brett Cecil are the lefties in the pen, it’s difficult to envision a scenario in which he’s asked to close.

Bud Norris is clearly in the fourth spot, but he was lower than that last season before emerging to save 19 games for the Angels.

WHITE SOX: THE BULLPEN

The Sox haven’t decided who will close for them this season according to manager Rick Renteria. Joakim Soria is thought to be in the lead, but he’s struggled this spring. Nate Jones has looked sharp, his arm strong, but there are ongoing concerns about his health. Juan Minaya, who posted nine saves late last season is also in the mix. I’ve always loved Jones, but the guys health risk is off the charts.

You can hear Ray, Monday through Friday, on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). Ray is on The Fantasy Drive 7-10 PM EST M-F, and he’s also on the Guru Elite Show Thursday from 2-4 PM EST. You can follow Ray on Twitter at @baseballguys.